Positive polling numbers, legal rulings preserve democracy

Plus, good news for workers

Welcome to a premium Friday evening edition of Progress Report.

Maybe it’s a side effect of being plugged into the news cycle nearly every hour of the day, but I feel oddly obligated to note and comment on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. So here it goes: My sympathies are with her family, but my deeper empathy lies with the centuries’ worth of people who were exploited by the British Empire’s colonization project that Elizabeth sought to preserve as well as their descendants now living in a world still shaped by the empire’s legacy.

Debates will be had over the degree to which the Queen had any actual influence over the British government, but save for how it may shape eulogies and later biographies, it’s somewhat irrelevant. What matters is what she symbolized to so many people. If Elizabeth’s peaceful passing of old age provides an opportunity for a public reckoning with the evil of Europe’s ongoing history plunder and apartheid, the end of this epoch could usher in a more just future.

(And while it’s a a minor point in the scheme of things, I hope that whatever comes next, it doesn’t result in another two weeks of canceled football matches.)

OK, enough of the dour: In tonight’s newsletter, we’re going to run through some of the good news that happened this week across the country.

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Civil Rights and Civilization

Arizona: A federal judge slapped the state GOP’s blatantly fascist ban on filming police officers with an injunction on Friday, ruling a legal challenge to the new law would likely succeed should it proceed to trial.

The law, signed by Gov. Doug Ducey in early July, would have made it a misdemeanor for anyone to film a law enforcement official from within a distance of eight feet or less. It was a clear infringement on civil liberties and the freedom of the press, enacted as a sop to culture warriors in a state where the GOP has been in the midst of a civil war for years.

The US Circuit Court judge gave interested parties a week to produce any argument in favor of the law, which is unlikely to happen — the law is so clearly unconstitutional that state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, best known for having his name on a recent Supreme Court case that limited voting rights, said earlier this week that he would not enforce it.

Still, it is essential that the law be permanently tossed off the books, because the far-right Republicans vying to take over the state are far less likely to show any sliver of respect for the constitution and civil liberties should they win office (more on that below).

National: I personally consider it my civil right to not be shot to death, so I’m filing this encouraging bit of news under this heading.